A forum for people who suffer from chronic or persistent coughs to share ideas... these don't have any sort of official approval so you try any of them out at your own risk. I've consigned some of the more unusual ones I received to the Oddities bin on the left. I've also listed very simple remedies separately. If you're a sufferer, good luck, and please report back by commenting on the particular posting if you find success. Or just comment to the most recent posting and I will pick it up.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Karen, UK

I had my cough for a very long time. It was a dry cough which, once started, was very difficult to stop. I used to dread having to go anywhere like the theatre, cinema, out for meals etc because it could come on at any time with no warning. Sometimes even a tiny breath of air would trigger it and other times it seemed that nothing had triggered it at all.

About eighteen months ago I decided enough was enough and started to research 'persistent dry cough' . After about three months I'd looked at a lot of information, both from websites and health discussion noticeboards. During this time I had lung xrays (all clear) and had been given an inhaler. The inhaler was to 'eliminate' asthma from the list of possible causes ie if it worked then I had asthma! The inhaler actually triggered the cough, so I only used it a couple of times.

Eventually I found that a persistent cough was a symptom of candidiasis (there are many strains of candida with different names). I found a questionnaire on the net and had a very high score on it. I then looked up ways of curing it with drugs and diet.

I should point out that I'm not really a believer in alternative 'medicine' and that there an awful lot of 'remedies' on the net and in health shops which purport to 'cure' candida, but people commenting in forums stated that they didn't work. In the main they seem to be a money making scheme.

After more research into what others did to cure candidiasis I decided to try the anti-candida diet and combine that with taking a month's supply of flucanazole. I had to get the flucanazole on the net from India via New Zealand, self-prescription I know, but by this time I was getting desperate. The diet is strict (no sugar at all, including natural fruit sugars and nothing else that encourages yeast growth) and is supposed to be followed for a minimum of three months. I also took apple cider vinegar (one or two teaspoons before each meal) which I read other people had used to combat candida. I also used Xylitol, a natural sugar (as I have a very sweet tooth). Xylitol is known to boost the immune system and the chewing gum also cures ear problems and mend tooth cavities. I also bought Xylitol nasal spray which is natural too and can be used as many times as you like to clear and moisturise ears, sinuses and throat. Re the diet, if you try it there is a range of yeast free foods in Tesco which are good - soda bread etc.

The information I looked up stated that the anti-candida diet and the drugs had to be used together as neither of them would work on their own. I followed the diet as closely as I could for three months and took the flucanazole for one month (two tablets on day one and one a day after that). I had read that usually people felt initially worse and after about two weeks I did feel pretty awful - terrible itching mainly and headaches plus a bad stomach. However, I found those symptoms stopped and then I began to feel much better and continued to do so until the end of the three months when my cough had disappeared and I felt miles healthier than I had done for a long time. I gradually introduced all foods back into my diet, but am still wary of getting too much sugar into my system (still using the Xylitol). The cough hasn't returned.

4 comments:

I was very interested by this, so I discussed it with Dr.S at Wythenshawe. She said that in the past during bronchoscopy examinations they had found quite a few patients with candida-type symptoms. But in her experience, treatment for candida had little or no effect on the patients' coughs - though some further research is being done into this. She also thought that if this was my problem, I would be likely to show other more significant symptoms than the cough. So it's not something that I intend to pursue for the moment.

Apple cider vinegar was also used by the Roman army for all kinds of ailments. Many people take it to ease arthritis. I stopped taking it a while ago for a couple of weeks and noticed joint pain so re-started it. It's also very good for regulating the digestive system. According to some sources on the net it can cure absolutely anything : )

Someone else has tried the no sugar, no yeast diet and it worked. It sounds very sim ilar to Karen's Anti-candida diet. A friend of mine, Ann C, told me that she had a persistent cough for 18 months, and became very ill because of her condition. All the usual tests and medications came to no conclusion. She consulted an allergy therapist, and he described all her symptoms before she had even gone into detail. He recommended the diet, she did so for 3 months and her condition, and the cough, has completely cleared up.

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About Me

I've had a cough for 18 years now, and have tried many, many things to get rid of it, without any lasting success. This blog is full of ideas that people have sent me after I appeared in the newspapers, and on radio and TV, talking about it a few years ago.

Cough jokes - because we need to keep a sense of humour!

...John was a clerk in a small drugstore but he was not much of a salesman. He could never find the item the customer wanted. Bob, the owner, had had about enough and warned John that the next sale he missed would be his last.

Just then a man came in coughing and he asked John for their best cough syrup. Try as he might John could not find the cough syrup. Remembering Bob's warning he sold the man a box of Ex-Lax and told him to take it all at once. The customer did as John said and then walked outside and leaned against a lamp post.

Bob had seen the whole thing and came over to ask John what had transpired. "He wanted something for his cough but I couldn't find the cough syrup. I substituted Ex-Lax and told him to take it all at once," John explained.

"Ex-Lax won't cure a cough," Bob shouted angrily.

"Sure it will," John said, pointing at the man leaning on the lamp post. "Look at him. He's afraid to cough!"

Next: not a joke, but these emails made me laugh on the Manchester Evening News website when the story first appeared:"I can help this man. I need his address. I have a electronic device which will surely help him to cure from this caugh. If anyone can give me his address, i can post the device for free. it can also help from various body pains including back pain." sadab, Dhaka, Bangladesh

"Thanks Sadab, they're known in the UK as cattle prods. Do send it to him though..."Mr.Manchester